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honours – this volume’s letterpress title page includes a lengthy list of titles which other nations had bestowed upon him – and if so was rewarded, for he was appointed Chevalier of the Royal Order of the Crown of Italy in 1929. Quarto. Original black cloth, spine and front cover richly gilt with the arms of Spain in red, yellow, gilt, and blue, top edge gilt. Colour frontispiece and title page, 25 other colour plates, 37 monotone plates; with captioned tissue-guards. Light rubbing and fraying at extremities, some light foxing to edges and contents. A very good copy. £850 [145828] 94 NANSEN, Fridtjof. Farthest North. London: Archibald Constable and Company, 1897 “a remarkable achievement of polar exploration” – signed by nansen First edition, signed in full by Nansen below his portrait frontispiece, the first volume with a mounted programme for a commemorative supper held in his honour by the Pen and Palette Club of Newcastle, 9 February 1922, where this volume was surely signed. The volume is testament to Nansen’s prevailing fame. The Pen and Palette Club is still in existence; at the time it would host a dinner for a visiting speaker once or twice a month, often of some renown. Later in 1922 Nansen would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of refugees. Copies signed by Nansen are uncommon: we have handled two inscribed copies, auction records cite four signed copies only. Nansen’s expedition was “a remarkable achievement in Polar exploration” ( PMM ), undertaken “with the object of investigating the polar basin north of Eurasia by drifting in the ice with the currents northwest from the New Siberian Islands across or near the Pole” ( Arctic Bibliography ). “Nansen returned to international acclaim not only for the voyage itself but for its results, proof of a deep Arctic Ocean, free of any land masses or islands, and extensive data on magnetism,
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zoology, and oceanography. His account of the journey, Farthest North , was a worldwide bestseller and prepared him for an effective life of diplomacy” ( Books on Ice ). The work is beautifully illustrated from photographs and from Nansen’s own sketches, for which he “claims no artistic merit”, but which are nonetheless highly atmospheric and effective. Like many of the polar books from the heroic age, this is a superbly produced work. This UK edition precedes the first Norwegian edition of the same year. 2 volumes, octavo. Original blue-green vertical-rib cloth, spines and front covers lettered in gilt, pictorial block in gilt to front covers (of the Fram to vol. I and “Northwards though the Drift-Snows” to vol. II), top and fore edges untrimmed. Etched portrait frontispiece to vol. I, photogravure frontispiece to vol. II, 127 plates of which 16 in colour, 92 illustrations to the text, 4 folding colour maps; title pages printed in red and black. Contemporary bookseller’s ticket of W. E. Franklin, Newcastle. Spine of vol. II a little cocked, bindings rubbed, a few spots and marks, old pale splash stain to back cover of vol. II, inner hinges cracked but firm, scattered finger soiling, first folding map split at stub (not affecting image); a used but honest copy, complete with all plates and maps, still remaining bright. ¶ Arctic Bibliography 11983; Books on Ice 5.2; Howgego III N3; Printing and the Mind of Man 384. £5,000 [150270]
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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